Japan Market 2020

Tokyo land prices rise | Japan 2020 Olympic games | COVID-19 risk

The average increase in price for land (for all usages) in Tokyo has increased by 4.1% from last year (2018). This year is the 7th consecutive year the land it has increased. This year's increase (2019) is 0.4% higher than the previous year’s increase (2018).

Commercial Area The average price in Tokyo has risen by 6.8%, making this year’s (2019) price increase 0.9% higher than last year’s (2018). This year’s average price increase within the 23 wards of Tokyo is 8.4%, which is 1.2% higher than last year’s (2018) 7.2% increase from the year before (2017). According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, this is the first time in 12 years (since 2007) that the increase has gone over 30% in Tokyo. It has been observed that the increase can attributed to a strong demand in the sale of goods and lodging due to many foreign tourists, and from the on-going construction of new hotels within the area.

Residential Area The price increase average within Tokyo is 2.5%, which is a 0.1% increase from the previous year (2018). The results from this year’s survey shows that 3 of central Tokyo’s wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, and Minato) have dropped out of the Top 10 ranking of average price increases in Tokyo this year. TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The average unit price of new condominiums in Japan in 2019 rose 0.6% from the previous year to ¥47.87 million, hitting a record high for the third straight year, the Real Estate Economic Institute said Thursday.

Tokyo 2020 unveiled updated V4 (version four) budgets for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan. These comprise the “OCOG” budget, which is the responsibility of Tokyo 2020, and the “Other Entities” public budget of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan, which includes long term investments for the city and country that will serve future generations for decades to come, as they lead the way in building a more inclusive society — a key legacy of these Games.

The Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to be held in 2020, can be expected to have positive effects on the Japanese economy. Such effects will come mainly through the following two demand channels: (i) an increase in foreign tourism, and (ii) an increase in construction investment associated with this event. 
The experience of past host countries shows that the key is to achieve a lasting increase in tourism by promoting touristic resources nationwide. For Japan, this means, for example, establishing routes that allow tourists coming to Japan for the Olympic Games to make excursions to regional areas in addition to visiting the Tokyo metropolitan area. Construction investment associated with the Tokyo Olympics includes not only that directly related to the building of facilities for the Olympic Games, but also various types of indirectly related construction investment, such as the construction of new hotels and the refurbishment of existing hotels in the private sector, urban redevelopment, the construction of commercial facilities, and the enhancement of transportation infrastructures.

A preliminary estimate released by the Cabinet Office on February 17, 2020, shows that in the three months to December, the annual growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 6.3% year-on-year.
The virus has already stopped the visits of hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists to Japan at the beginning of the Olympic year, hitting an important source of spending revenue. The longer the outbreak disrupts production and domestic demand in Japan’s biggest trading partner, the more likely Japan’s exporters will suffer and parts supplies may dry up, this is where the market should pay attention.

Reference source：
https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/
http://www.reinet.or.jp/
https://the-japan-news.com/
https://ideas.repec.org/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/